Calling each other “man” originated in the Harlem Renaissance when black musicians, tired of white men always calling them “boy” started calling each OTHER “man”.

As in: “Hey, man, how you doin’?”

Of course, our modern stereotype for the person who says “man” a lot is a white hippie with long hair or a white beatnik in a turtleneck and beret–a look (and movement) that white people stole wholecloth from black people.

“Cool” is another slang word black people created, but I don’t recall the date this one was coined, only that it was always in another phrase that has since been dropped–“cool cat”, as in, a man who is always level-headed, and very suave. ‘Cool’ has since come to be a stand-in word for an aesthetic or overarching style with ephemeral, impossible-to-overtly-state qualities of allure and fascination. Yes, we invented that, too. We invented that word. We gave a definition to the inexplicable sensation of awe some people are able to inspire in others by sheer style.

Unfortunately the word “cool” has also been stolen and our stereotype of a person who uses it a lot is a white boy with a skateboard or surfboard…